Tape printers are known which use a supply of tape, housed in a cassette received in the tape printer. The tape comprises an image receiving layer and a backing layer which are secured to one another via an adhesive layer. Such tape printers include a cutting mechanism for cutting off a portion of the tape after an image has been printed onto the image receiving layer so that the portion of tape having the image can be used as a label. After the tape has been cut, the cut portion of the tape is pulled from the printer through a slit in the printer housing. The backing layer can then be removed allowing the image receiving layer to be secured to an object using the adhesive layer.
A problem with known arrangements is that after the cutting step, the cut portion of tape must be removed manually from an exit in the body of the printer. If many labels are required to be printed then having to remove each individual label from the printer can be time consuming. Also, if the tape printer is remote from the data input device, for example a tape printer with a personal computer (PC), then a user may have to get up from the PC and walk to the printer and remove the label from the printer before returning to the PC to actuate another printing cycle. If the labels are not removed between printing cycles then the cut portions can jam the mechanism either at the exit, or further back upstream at the cutter mechanism or the printing mechanism. Newly printed sections of tape may be fed into different portions of the device rather than out through the exit, thus clogging the mechanism.
A second problem with prior arrangements is that if a short label is printed, the cut portion may not be of sufficient length to protrude through the exit in the body of the printer. It is then difficult to remove the cut portion manually. The cut portion may get stuck within the printer body blocking the tape path and leading to the mechanism becoming clogged.
It is an aim of the embodiment described hereinafter to solve the problems outlined above.